Here’s a peek at my new ALIENS art, launching at New York Comic Con in October, my fall appearance schedule–hyperlinked for your convenience–and a brief interview for the folks attending my free Mathnasium of Whitefish Bay, WI event, where I’m appearing on October 2nd to teach art. Without further adieu, here’s the scoop:

RS: Can you share with our readers your connection to Mathnasium Whitefish Bay?

DD: You (owners Kal and Rohita Shah) are like family to us, and our sons have been best friends since kindergarten. In fact, Kal and I coached their football team together, which remains a very happy memory for me. I’d never been to Whitefish Bay until you moved there, and in a perfect world, outside of my home in Florida, I’d be living in Whitefish Bay. I like that it’s a community where you can walk to everything you need, and nearby Milwaukee is a great city with a great art museum.

RS: What will attendees of the Mathnasium Whitefish Bay event on October 2nd, 2016 experience?

DD: I’m going to teach drawing geometric shapes and how they can be easily transformed into your favorite STAR WARS characters. I will be doing two classes–one at 11 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. Additionally, I’ll have my prints for sale–Star Wars, Batman, Alien, you name it– and I’ll sign anything anyone brings for me to autograph. Autographs are always free.

RS: What projects have you done lately or are working on now?

DD: I’m working on STAR WARS comic book covers for Marvel Comics, superhero trading cards for Upper Deck, and a commemorative ALIENS print for the 30th anniversary of the 2nd ALIENS film. This piece premieres at New York Comic Con on October 6th. I’m also taking in requests and doing a lot of commissioned art for fans worldwide.

RS: What advice would you give young artists?

DD: The main advice I’d give them is to draw as much as they can. The more you draw, the better you get. Draw everything, not just what you like to draw. A good artist should be able to easily draw whatever they’re being asked to draw by an art director or client.

RS: Do you recommend any art schools?

DD: That’s such a personal choice, depending on your particular focus. I’d spend time evaluating each program to find the one best fitting your direction. I had a false start at St. Mary’s College in Maryland, where I majored in art and they had me doing these large, contemporary art gallery pieces, which was not at all my interest. I switched schools my sophomore year and attended the Joe Kubert School in Dover, NJ. That school taught me comic book illustration, which is what I thought I wanted, but then I realized, I was geared more towards telling a whole story with one single illustration, which led me to doing cover art. It was only the Kubert School’s second year in operation, so Joe Kubert advised me to graduate early (he said they’d already taught me everything they could) and he encouraged me to go on my own to learn color illustration. My color work is self taught, but it all boils down to the amount time I spent in front of my drawing board. It took me until I was 25 to sell my first piece, the Heavy Metal magazine cover I did.

I had a GREAT time at the DISCOVERY MUSEUM in Milwaukee with my 501stfriends last weekend teaching people how I do what I do. (And yes, I AM available to give this lecture, teach demos, and do Q&As for your large group or students – for inquiries please contact my wife/publicist denise@writebrainmedia.com). Here’s an image from my lecture:

Me teaching how I created this art at DISCOVERY MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE

Tomorrow through Sunday: I will be at Detroit Fanfare, and I will be a presenter for the ShelDorf Awards, so hopefully I’ll catch up with many of you at either event. Here’s a link for more information: http://detroitfanfare.com/

Saturday November 2nd: I will be teaching an art demo at BLICK ART SUPPLY in Wheaton, IL. This makes up for the one I had to miss earlier this fall.

This day also marks the grand opening of my friend J. Anthony Kosar’s MALEFICIUM DARK ART Exhibiton:http://www.kosartgallery.com/2013-maleficium-dark-art-exhibition.html– the grand opening is 1 p.m. – 10 p.m. on the 2nd, but the exhibit is available to tour by appointment only from 11/2 – 11/30. You may recognize Anthony as he was a winner on last season’s SYFY show, FACE OFF. His f/x makeup is incredible, and if you are interested in learning from him, he teaches classes! Check him out1

Saturday November 3rd:Happy Diwali to my many Indian friends, and we celebrate my son’s 9th Birthday!

For a few weeks in November and possibly into December, things will be a little nutty here as I’m having a new studio built over the garage, so if I delay in getting back to you on something urgent, ping my wife/publicist at denise@writebrainmedia.com or call her at (630) 845-4694.

If you want to catch my daily comments/musings/mutterings, you can catch me here: